New NASCAR superlatives!

I'll figure out the rest of the superlatives later, but the one I want to focus on right now is:

Sorest Loser of 2008: Kyle Busch

I usually don't have much of a problem with Kyle Busch. Granted, that doesn't mean that I'm a fan of his in anyway, and this is enforced by his bullcrap attitude on Saturday night.

First let's take it back to the setting that this all occured in: Bristol. Bristol, Tennessee. Every race fan and their dogs know that Bristol is one of the beating-ist banging-ist tracks on the circut, and it's dang near impossible to get through that race without someone getting moved around. So why, then, is Kyle acting like being bumped is something illegal at this track? He knows what goes on there, so why can't he take it like a man and just accept it and say "his car was faster"?

This isn't a bias because I'm a big Carl Edwards fan, but this is my personal opinion on Kyle Busch's stinking attitude in this race. He's one that can deal it, but apparently is unable to take it, and it's getting old. It's rather immature.

So, Kyle Busch sorest loser; Kenny Wallace, Class Clown...

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Any doubts?

I will admit, I was one of those who thought "I really hope this kid is worth all the hype he's getting." And now I will humble myself to say that I was wrong about Joey Logano. He kicked butt tonight--leading 71 laps (and you gotta admit, Kyle crashing probably opened up a big door)--and he did it in good fashion. Congratulations to him in is first win in only 3 races as well as congratulations to his team & his dad. This has to be a helluva Father's Day present!

Now I know not to doubt anymore drivers.

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Exploring "The Circuit"

So yesterday the movie "The Circuit" made its big premier on ABCFamily. Looking at the commercials prior to the release, it makes me realize that since the entrance of drivers such as Danica Patrick & Erin Crocker (who, unfortunately, we all know had rises to fame by their sex appeal...and other reasons.) the entertainment industry has shifted from making women drivers appealing for their driving skill to making it a big romance story.

I remember in the early 2000s, Disney came out with 2 movies--Right On Track & Motocrossed--that told accounts of girls (although Motocrossed was a fictional account) that had to rise to the top by fighting adversity of family memebers & society for being female racers.

Andrea Carson from Motocrossed first faced family problems. Her twin brother Andy suffered an injury, causing him to sit out. However, Andrea knew she could fill in. So while her father was off in Europe finding an replacement, she decided to pose as a boy and go behind her father's back in order to do what she loved.

Erica Enders in Right On Track had many personal battles:
A. Her classmates, in convincing them that she is a normal girl, not uptight. Convincing them that what she does is indeed a sport.
B. Her academic & social life was becoming strained. She came in late for a big Volleyball game from racing the day before, causing a tear between her and her team. A boy she really liked asked her out, but she had to blow it off because of a race. Because of all the things that racing was doing to her, she quit. She felt the pressure was too much (especially after suffering a dangerous crash) and so she ended the career she loved, only momentarily.
C. Not conforming to the "model - shots" that magazines wanted to take of her (not glamour shots, of course, I mean, it's Disney Channel for goodness sakes)

So I compiled these facts to ask the question: Why is it that, now coming to the close of the first decade of the 21st century, we have to make women in racing movies for sex appeal only? I was sitting there watching The Circuit completely in awe that writers & directors actually think that an angry young woman sleeping with her teammate, while being an absolute you-know-what could actually be on ABCFamily for starters. That aside it's sad to believe that now that has to make good television to get people a quarter parts interested in racing let alone women in racing. Whatever happened to women racing their way to the top, instead of sleeping their way? I, of all people know, that women have raging hormones at time, but the way that they portrayed her anger & her hard-headedness...is that really neccessary? I think I'm diving more into the tasteful television game than venting about the appearance of women in racing, but either way, haven't we developed in our American culture enough that we can make a movie about a strong woman in racing without having to get romantically involved with a teammate? Or without having to be a person that you're just impelled to detest?

All of this ranting being said: Is it possible that the drama with some of the current women drivers we have today could inspire producers to make stories such as the travesty (in my opinion) of "The Circuit?" If you watched it, how did you feel about it? Differently? The same?

Oh yeah. School's out for summer, and it's good to be back!!

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Save the Music!

I know this not racing related, and for that I apologize.

At my school, (Salem High School, Conyers, GA) we are well known for our fine arts program. For the past 16 years, the Marching Band has collected over 200 awards, the Wind Ensemble (formerly called Symphonic I) that I am in has gotten straight one's at Festival Level since the inaugural year of the band. Theatre Salem is one of the most talented in our state, and our Art Program is phenomenal.

Why am I saying all this? Well, with the retirement of our principal at the end of 2007, for some reason, our fine arts program has slowly becoming dismantled. Not by carelessness or laziness, but by the force of our interim principal. So the students are taking a stand.

I am arranging a rally, and we currently have an online petition going, that I would be so grateful for if you would sign. Just take a second, and put a comment if you feel, but it is not neccessary. Thank you.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SaveSalemFinearts/

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For the Love of the Game

I hate to be a "Blog repeater" (because I wrote a blog of this nature back in....June?) but this calls for it. I'll just put in the conversation

Me: OKAY! Question. What's the point of track?

Kaitlyn: There really isn't one. All you do is run around in circles. Which is why I think XC is better. yeah. bam

D: Alright, next. What's the point of say...your sport, soccer? You're just kicking a ball up & down the field.

K: To score goals and stuff...OKAY.

D: What's the point?

K: I know there's a point to NASCAR.

D: Really?!

K: But what I don't get is the point in watching it. DON'T GET MAD.

D: You shouldn't confuse yourself like that. That's quite contradictory from what you said earlier today.

K: Yeah. Okay...But all the drivers do is drive in circles. Sure the crashes are cool....

D: Well not really.

K: yeah not like cool, cool.

D: Gordon smacked the wall yesterday, and he's one of my least favorites and all I can think on hits like that is Dale Earnhardt...

K: But it's cool as in like...action.

D: BUT. That's not why we watch. Don't take this the wrong way, but obviously you don't know the point because you've never taken a minute to watch a race, am I incorrect?

K: No, you're right...

D: So therefore, you couldn't really speak on this topic, for the fact that you haven't watched it. You go by what society says, right? That it's just driving in circles, but on the surface, yes, it is true, they are "just driving in circles," but there's more to it than that, and we, as fans love it.

D: The point of watching, Kaitlyn, is as fans, we love loving something bigger than us. It's knowing we can enjoy life being passionate about something that's one of the few stable things in this world. Other sports have been given media attention for drugs, sex, lies, greed, swearing in before congress that they are not guilty of such and such action, but do you know what the guys in our sport are doing? They're starting charities, they're donating major percentages of their winnings to foundations, reading to kids, visiting AND ESTABLISHING hospitals, building houses for Habitat for Humanity, et cetera, and yet...they still have time for sponsor apperances & racing.

D: I'm not saying that the guys in NASCAR are flawless, or that the ones in other sports are just troublemakers, mind you, because NASCAR has had their fairshare of knuckleheads.

D: But, going on 60 years and never once has this sport experienced a strike. Do you know what most of the other sport strikes are over?

D:Money. Players who think they can play (who really can't) say they deserve as much as A-Rod, when they're batting like .100. In NASCAR, there's no faking it. There's no hidden mystery. We get joy from following the pride of our drivers trying to influence as much as they can in the world. The pride of knowing that they can't fake their ability. It's knowing that our drivers will go hard not just for the money, not for the glory...but for the love of the game. There it is.

K: Wow that was like a speech.

D: Yeah, that all came from my head. I'm capable of being a great speech writer, but I don't want to.

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It must be something in the Vitamin Water...

Am I currently conscious, or did Carl Edwards seriously just win his 2nd race in a row?

Roush is back with a vengance (and Bob Osborne is excited about it too!!!) and I couldn't be happier! I've never felt such a mix of excited, nausea, nervousness, and worry in my life! Excited because Carl won. Nausea because Carl won. Nervous because Carl almost had a penalty that could've cost him the race (guess that camera guy learned his lesson, eh?) and worry because of J. Gordon's crash.

Honestly, this is the second time a crash of this nature has happened (that I've seen at least)...scratch that, third, because I remember seeing a replay of Jamie McMurray's crash of 2005 that cost him his place in the Chase. The last time however, it was in the then-Busch series, when a driver smacked the wall hard. I'm pretty sure he was out for a couple of races past then. Even during that crash, they questioned the absence of the SAFER barriers from the inside wall, and I do as well. Maybe now since one of the superstars hit it, they'll look into fixing that even deeper (and that's controversial, I know, but...true in some form.)

So, whoomp there it is! Except for...
Way to stereotype a gopher, Fox Sports. Digger? Come on! I suggested Darnell, which means "Hidden one/mystery," but I suppose Digger is more practical. Le Sigh.

That is all! Farewell, and GO TEAM EDWARDS! Woot!

"Carl Edwards, the persistent rascal that he is..." ---Jimmy Spencer

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It's California, and I'm bloody freezing!

(quotation of Dario Franchitti)

Well. This is quite a race, is it not?!

Sarcasm aside, it was okay up to the point of the most recent red flag...Except for the fact that the flooding of the track ruined some of the driver's day (and scared the bajeebus outta me!) So right now we have another TO. And it sucks because we're back in school tomorrow after a break, and I haven't finished reading Frankenstein (don't worry, I only have 1 chapter to go). So if I'm still up at 11:00, then I guess I'll see what the verdict will be.

But I guess we can just dash the Nationwide race tonight, correct?

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Washington DC --- in pictures!

So as you well may know, I had the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. 2 weeks ago, and I absolutely loved every minute of it! It was freezing cold and my feet were killing me, but it was well worth it. So I'm going to go through the abridged version of my trip (I do warn you, however, that even though this is abridged, it is very long.)

January 17, 2008 --- Day 1
We arrived in our great nation's capital around midday, and it was completely COVERED in snow. Needless to say when you gather a bunch of Georgia teenagers in a place with snow, there's going to be a few snowball fights. Other than that, our first destination was "The Mall" & The Smithsonian Museums.

The Smithsonian Castle

They turned us loose for about 2 or 3 hours and the majority of that time was spent in the Washington Monument (it was breathtaking in the inside as well as the out. The stones set inside were amazing) and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

This is one of the reasons why. There were many other items like fossils, rocks and materials of the like from many places in America & some from abroad, as well as artifacts of different countries and their culture. I can't post them all, but once I finish the album, I'll post the link if you would be interested :)

So we saw those two places and it was time to head to the hotel and check in...relax...eat and stuff. Because at 7:30, we would walk 2 miles to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts to see Shear Madness! If you've never seen it, it's I think the longest running annual play in America. It's a murder mystery that gets the crowd involved and we basically pick the killer and they adapt to that ending. It's hilarious. The thing of it though, you really have to keep up with pop culture & politics to understand many of their jokes (they cracked a couple about Vick & Senator Larry Craig). I did get involved...I spoke about the clipping shears and how they broke and Barbra said "They were cheap! I got them from K-Mart! Like where she got her coat!" haha...ha.
No pictures allowed.

January 18 --- Day 2
Pretty awesome day! We started off by taking a tour of the Capitol building, (and actually saw a session happen!) the Supreme Court, and the Holocaust Museum...I especially want to expand on the last one.

The Capitol:
One of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in ever. The Rotunda was enough to leave you breathless

see? Once again, there are many pictures, so I'll post the link later.

No pictures in the Supreme Court. BUT IT WAS AWESOME!

And then we ate at Union Station and made our way to the Holocaust Museum.

If you have a free weekend, if you do nothing else in that district, you must make sure you go to that museum. It was one of the most humbling experiences in my life. The pictures, the actual bunks of the concentration camps, the shoes of the Jewish, Jehovah's Witnesses and others, the quotations on the wall....the videos, the faces, the names...everything. I feel much more informed on that traumatic period now. I read a book called "Night" last year and an exerpt from it was one of the quotations. After seeing the museum, and then reading that, I couldn't help but get emotional. And the Hall of Rememberance...you'll have to see it. It's indescribable.
No pictures allowed.

January 19, 2008 --- Day 3
The final day! Ah! We completed the monument & memorial tour. I'll just put this one in pictures.

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To the Nation's Capital!

I will be in Washington D.C. until Saturday for our junior class trip! I'm going to attempt to stay warm and.....

OH MY GOODNESS! IT'S SNOWING! In Georgia! Ah!

Besides the point...but yes. I will be back on Saturday.

And how 'bout them Toyotas'? We'll see a win for them this year, this I am sure.
Bye!

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Over the river and through the woods

To grandmother's house, I go!

Yeah, I'm heading back down to my hometown tomorrow morning for thanksgiving-- give my ma-maw a little relief & help her with all of the cooking (for about 40 people. When we get together, we're a fire hazard, me and my kajillion cousins)! I shall be back on Friday!

...And I just realized I can't really apply the "through the woods" reference...Macon isn't really woods-y on her side of town...

bye!

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